Behind the quilt - Sunny Side Up

O.k., on to our next project, with a little peek behind this crazy little creative brain of mine! We may be no closer to figuring out how it works, but we'll take a look anyway...

Also from Stash Lab, this quilt is called Sunny Side Up...

Sunny Side Up

I love geometric patterns and I see them everywhere! Hotel carpets, upholstery, tile, a brick walkway - pattern is everywhere! This quilt literally jumped off a bathroom wall! Here's a magazine ad for some hotel that I ripped out of a magazine (I'm sure it was mine!) It was begging me to be made into a quilt. Really, a traditional quarter log cabin block, just made bigger and brighter!

Inspiration on my bulletin board in my sewing room...

That torn out picture lingered on my idea bulletin board for at least a year or so before I got the urge to go shop-hopping while on vacation through sunny California searching high and low for all things yellow. Before this project, my stash had virtually no yellow to speak of so this was a fun fabric hunt. It was addictive!

I have to admit, before I decided to go with the yellow, I considered making it in a bunch of different colorways (red and white, blue and white, etc.) because there was this old quilt color "rule" I had heard someone say that a quilt should never have more than say, 5% yellow or it will be ruined. Well, that was like throwing down the gauntlet for me - it had to be yellow now!

I didn't actually even draw this one out because I really figured on replicating the tile pattern pretty closely. Everything got cut down to 2 1/2" strips and this is what it looked like mid-way through up on my design wall.

Tracey added the most beautiful, modern quilting to it - way too big for me to tackle on my home machine with a deadline. This one is so cuddly and soft, it just begs you to curl up in it for an afternoon nap. I love it, one of my favorites for sure. Simplicity itself.

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya

Stash Lab - take 2

So, on our countdown to the big book birthday - October 6th! - I'm sharing some of the projects from my upcoming book with Martingale, Stash Lab: Simple Solutions for Scrap Quilts. Moving right along, let's get to some more quilts.

This time, let's look at some of the projects under the Stash Lab equation of "Neutrals + Scraps = Balance". It really is as simple as it sounds. When working with lots of different competing fabrics or scraps in a quilt, it helps a lot to give the eye a place to rest in between. Neutrals can act as a great frame for a variety of fabrics and neutral doesn't just mean white-on-white either. Textured prints, solids, even low-volume patterns are all considered neutrals in my opinion. Here's one that uses a gray/white sheet music print as the neutral. This is "Loose Change"...


"Loose Change", Stash Lab: Simple Solutions for Scrap Quilts

Can you guess it's namesake and the inspiration for this project? If you guessed a traditional Chinese Coin pattern, you were right! This is my version with a bit of a twist, turning the quadrants to add interest and little bit of a modern edge to a very traditional pattern. For this project, I dug into my bin of 1-1/2" strip scraps and put together a variety of strips sets, using sea glass as my color inspiration.

The next quilt is a little (o.k., a lot) bolder, and one of my favorites - not only because of the fabrics! This is "Kaffe's Garden at Night"...

"Kaffe's Garden at Night", Stash Lab: Simple Solutions for Scrap Quilts

This one may look a little familiar :) I just can't let it go! I love this quilt. Black is definitely the ultimate neutral and really brings out the intensity of colors in fabrics that you use with it. Sometimes people shy away from using black in quilt tops, but I don't think black has to be sad or dark. Not when you use it this way!

Now, please forgive the not-so-great photo on this next one, it's the only one I could access at the moment. But, my bad living-room photography doesn't do this one justice in the least. This is "Sunny Side Up"...

"Sunny Side Up", Stash Lab: Simple Solutions for Scrap Quilts

So maybe this is my ploy, you have to see the professional photography of this one in the book! The quilting is beautiful simplicity itself, from the efforts of the very talented, Tracey Fisher. Tracey is not only one of my go-to professional long-arm quilters, she is my friend and one of my biggest cheerleaders (thanks Tracey!) This one does actually use solid white as the neutral, but in a non-traditional way, to bring together a shop-hop collection of different yellow fabrics, all made from 2-1/2" strips. This would be a great project in anyone's favorite color.

Well, we're getting closer! I can't tell you how great it feels to finally be able to share all of this with you. I have said that waiting and working on the book for almost two years has felt like sitting on a chicken egg, waiting for it to hatch - and it's true! This is one big baby chick, I must say. But, I couldn't be more thrilled. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Happy Stash quilting,

Tonya

Sunny Side Up

Here we are at the end of September and the weather the last weekend just confirmed that summer is long gone in my corner of the world. The wind was blowing, the rain was back in full force and summer is just a sweet memory now. To celebrate the beautiful summer that was, earlier this month I decided to dive into all the yellow fabrics I picked up during summer vacation and got to cutting.

All the lovely yellows cut into 2 1/2" strips

I have had this quilt in mind for at least a couple of years. Here's the photo inspiration I've had tacked to my bulletin board for a while. It's an ad for a luxury hotel somewhere but there's something about the tile pattern that I am just really drawn to. What's not to love about a log cabin variation?

Design inspiration - hotel advertisement from a magazine

First, I tried using a solid yellow and solid white just like the tile in the picture but it didn't do anything for me. Disappointed, I put it in the closet and it's been sitting there for a couple of years. Fast forward to this summer and my yellow fabric shopping spree while on vacation. I wasn't ready to give up on this quilt. Like everything else, I figured it just needed to be "scrapped up" for more interest. Now I am loving it! Not content with a little reasonable wall hanging, I went all out and went full bed-size. Big surprise. Going big and going down hard! Here's a sneak peek:


Work in process

Now that the Crock-Pot is back into Fall dinner rotation, I'll have time to get my new summer bed quilt ready! I think I'm going to call it "Sunny Side Up".

Happy end-of-summer stitching,

Tonya